I'm working on a school project where people can upload documents to be archived and then retrieve them at a later date and the idea is that they can use a PC, an ebook reader, smartphone etc.

The format they will be uploaded in is PDF but as HarryT just told me in the general forum it's not a great format for readers but i've read that it's ok as long as the pdf has been saved at the right dimensions, like feedbooks does.

The system will be running on a linux server with php - does any one know of any php/linux software that I could use to resize existing pdfs? Or can anyone from feedbooks tell me how their system works?

Resizing existing PDFs is non-trivial. An automated system (that produces a sensible result) is currently impossible.

If you have the source files (e.g. Text, RTF, HTML, TeX), you could use them to generate different sized PDFs.

But PDFs alone won't work on all common ebook readers. To work with Palm OS PDAs and (perhaps more relevant today) mobile phones (inlcuding iPhones) you'll need to generate eReader or Mobipocket format ebooks.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonathanp

Hi,

I'm working on a school project where people can upload documents to be archived and then retrieve them at a later date and the idea is that they can use a PC, an ebook reader, smartphone etc.

The format they will be uploaded in is PDF but as HarryT just told me in the general forum it's not a great format for readers but i've read that it's ok as long as the pdf has been saved at the right dimensions, like feedbooks does.

The system will be running on a linux server with php - does any one know of any php/linux software that I could use to resize existing pdfs? Or can anyone from feedbooks tell me how their system works?

The format they will be uploaded in is PDF but as HarryT just told me in the general forum it's not a great format for readers
but i've read that it's ok as long as the pdf has been saved at the right dimensions, like feedbooks does.

Most of the PDF support for dedicated readers is terrible this is true. However there are some apps that do a fantastic job reflowing PDF. For instance Adobe 2.0 for Windows Mobile and ReliGo for Blackberrys. Not only do they reflow they can zoom pan increase fonts.

Feedbook has the original text stored on their server. They then created PDF on demand. For you to copy Feedbook you would have to have the students submit there documents in a reflowable format like text, HTML, Word document to the server then on the server side render it as a PDF.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonathanp

The system will be running on a linux server with php - does any one know of any php/linux software that I could use to resize existing pdfs? Or can anyone from feedbooks tell me how their system works?

You can use a tool like soPDF, located here, that can remove margins from the PDF somebody has ported it linux already.

There are server side solutions that do do this. Google and Blackberry are examples of sites that render PDF file for different clients.